‘The Romanoffs’: Aaron Eckhart, Amanda Peet, and More Open Up About What It’s Like To Work with Matthew Weiner

The Romanoffs and Mad Men auteur Matthew Weiner has something of a complicated reputation in Hollywood. The writer, director, and producer is a favorite amongst actors, but has had to deal with serious allegations of workplace harassment from writers like Kater Gordon. Love him or hate him, Weiner is known for creating hyper-detailed worlds, and working with a man that obsessed with details might not be for everyone.

During a recent press event in New York City, Decider asked 10 actors — including Aaron Eckhart, Kerry Bishé, Amanda Peet, and Radha Mitchell — what their own personal experiences were working on the set of The Romanoffs. Some were over the moon about Weiner’s precise directorial style, others noted that he was “meticulous” to the point of maybe being a little “claustrophobic,” and one star wondered who else would casually bring Zadie Smith to set…

Here, in their own words, are 10 Romanoffs stars on working with Matthew Weiner:

Photo: Prime Video

Aaron Eckhart, star of Episode 1 “The Violet Hour” (Debuted on Oct. 12)
“You just did what he had you do. You knew – with Mad Men and everything – he writes with a particular cadence from which his humor comes, and he knows best. So you kind of just did what Matthew wanted you to do. Everybody had to find their rhythm within that sort of template.”

Ines Melab, star of Episode 1 “The Violet Hour” (Debuted on Oct. 12)
“[It was] wonderful, wonderful. He’s very…precise. I’m so happy that he trusts me because it’s my first movie. And I think for the first episode, to take an unknown person, it was very amazing. He loves actors, working with them..”

Marthe Keller, star of Episode 1 “The Violet Hour” (Debuted on Oct. 12)
“Everything is about trust in life. If you have someone you trust, you feel that you can be yourself, that you are taken care [of]. You have the feeling that you have this kind of confidence in the director…So it was just coming to a family who had known each other so well from Mad Men. It felt to me that they were so happy to see each other after a long break, and we were right away accepted into this new family and that feels really wonderful. And [Weiner] is really, as she said, he’s such a caring guy on the set. He’s very loud! And passionate. He needs to go very fast! But not with actors. He’s protective. So it was for me, a wonderful experience to work with him, I have to say.” [beat] “I wouldn’t come and do press if I wouldn’t have liked it!”

Photo: Prime Video

Kerry Bishé, star of Episode 2 “The Royal We” (Debuted on Oct. 12)
“Matt’s obviously such a talented writer and reading the script alone would make you want to go be part of this big, beautiful thing. He is well-known for being incredibly meticulous and that sometimes can feel really claustrophobic as an actor. But, to me, I know what he does and trust it enough, that if you really lean into wherever he’s trying to get you to go, it will end up being something interesting.”

Jack Huston, star of Episode 3 “House of Special Purpose” (Debuted on Oct. 19)
“We were laughing a lot on set. Matt’s brilliant. He’s such a big character, as well. And you know, he’s so insightful and brilliant. You can sit there and he’s like 101 on film. He’s always throwing out references to this, that, and it’s beautiful. It was such an amazing relationship, with everyone as well.”

Photo: Prime Video

Amanda Peet, star of Episode 4 “Expectation” (Debuted on Oct. 26)
“All I know is that I hadn’t read any Zadie Smith, but I knew who she was, and she came to the set at like 8 o’clock at night. I walked past video village, and all of a sudden, I saw her, and I went, ‘Oh my God’ And then after that, over this summer, I read almost all of her books and became totally obsessed with her. So when I just saw Matt a little while ago, I was like, ‘You are so lucky that I hadn’t read her stuff yet because I would have had to actually leave. Like, I’m not going to anything in front of you. Or you have to leave.’ I mean, I could barely do anything in front of Matt, so…BUT WHO BRINGS ZADIE SMITH TO THE SET? AT THE STRAND? It’s just colossally intimidating.”

Juan Pablo Castañeda, star of Episode 6 “Panorama” (Debuting on Nov. 9)
“It was tough, and of course at the beginning I could feel the pressure to be working for Matthew, and after the first reading he said, ‘Look, this is what I’ve written and nothing will change.’ So I was super focused on not screwing anything up. And I just tried to go on with it. But I love history and to have the opportunity to speak about my history and Mexico, so that was really a gift.”

Photo: Prime Video

Radha Mitchell, star of Episode 6 “Panorama” (Debuting on Nov. 9)
“He’s very precise. He’s very considered. He’s written the thing. He kind of wants to hear what he wrote and how he sees it. We tried to tune into what was going on in his mind and bring this Victoria out of his head into the room. So it was interesting because it was almost disciplined in that sense. There’s a process to it. And that was kind of interesting to really try and create the exact vision, more than in other experiences I’ve had.”

Annet Mahendru, star of Episode 7 “The End of the Line” (Debuting on Nov. 16)
“I knew I was working with a master and so everything was detail-oriented — we picked my nail polish color together. I also showed up to set to camera test and I painted my fingers a different color because I also like to think about it, and he came up with his own two colors, like a mix of our two colors. So he was really cool. In a fast-moving TV show, you don’t get to do that, but you get to do that with Matt. He pauses and takes time for that. I don’t know if you noticed the light-switch in my episode, in the hotel room…like I loved that it was super dirty, kind what you see in hotels. Yes, oh my gosh, no!”

“I had a beautiful time working with Matthew. My wife [Neve Campbell] had done some Mad Men. She had told me that he’s meticulous. He’s absolutely meticulous about his writing, about the vision he wants, the rhythm he wants. So I was expecting it to be quite a rigid process, but he was incredibly collaborative. He gave these beautiful speeches at the beginning of each sort of block — which was either a location, or a studio, or an episode — where there was a time when we all got together. He gave this beautiful speech about how happy he was and how blessed he was to be working with Amazon, because Amazon gave him the space to be creative. And he said, ‘All I ask is that you learn your lines and you’re on time. That was it. And if you have things you want to collaborate with, come to me beforehand. Let’s discuss it.'”

The Romanoffs Episode 5 “A High and Bright Circle” is available to stream today.